CINCINNATI - FC Cincinnati heads into a 10-day break in good spirits after collecting a 4-0 win over Richmond Kickers SC on Saturday in front of a season-best crowd of 28,026 fans at Nippert Stadium.
Powered by two goals from Emmanuel Ledesma, a goal and an assist from Danni Konig and a tally from Nazmi Albadawi, the Orange and Blue cruised to their ninth win of the season and pushed their lead in the United Soccer League Eastern Conference to six points over second-place Louisville City, which has played three fewer games.
FC Cincinnati is off until June 27 when it travels to play winless Toronto FC II in a midweek match.
“It’s been a long slog to get where we are this evening,” FC Cincinnati coach Alan Koch said. “Everyone’s earned a bit of a break. We’ll give the guys a bit of a strategic break between now and our next game, which is 10 days away, so it’ll actually be nice to breathe for a little while.
"Very, very proud of the group. Very, very proud of the work that everybody’s putting in every single day,” Koch said.
DEEPER LOOK AT SATURDAY'S MATCH:
1. Still on fire: Ledesma, Konig and Albadawi have been on a terror lately, and they kept their hot streak going as the trio accounted for all four goals. They have combined to score 16 of the team’s last 19 goals in league play.
Ledesma, who leads the USL East with seven assists, netted his second brace of the season (scoring two goals in one game) and sits in a tie with Konig for the team lead in goals after both players pushed their total to seven.
Ledesma’s first goal of the night came when he saw Richmond goalie Travis Worra off his line and floated in a shot from the left flank after Konig fed him the ball following a throw-in. The Argentina native curled in another goal in the second half from the top of the box and now has had a hand in 13 goals in his last nine games, including all seven of his goals. FCC is 7-2-1 during that time.
Albadawi tallied his fourth goal in his last six league games, his fifth overall, in the 36th minute. Albadawi received a pass from Michael Lahoud in the center of the field, took a few touches to his right and then ripped a shot from 25 yards out.
Konig got in on the scoring in the second half to add to his club-record career goal total, now 18. Justin Hoyte sent him through on a long ball into the box for a wide open look as Worra approached, and Konig neatly tucked it away to the near post to make it 3-0 in the 60th minute.
2. Team at its best: Cincinnati recorded its first clean sheet at Nippert this season, possessed the ball for 58.8 percent of the game and scored four goals for the third time in 2018, something the club had done just three times total through the first two years.
Evan Newton recorded three saves to preserve the shutout, as FCC outshot Richmond 16-10 (7-3 on target).
“It’s not that easy to manage all the different elements of the game, and they managed every element of the game to perfection,” Koch said. “They managed how we asked them to play, which was excellent in and out of possession. They managed where Richmond’s strengths and weaknesses were, so they nullified their strengths and capitalized on their weaknesses. They managed the weather, which it’s not that easy going out and playing with that intensity through the course of 90 minutes. And, they managed the location, a great big crowd on a Saturday night in Cincinnati. It was a very good performance tonight.”
It was arguably one of the club’s best performances in USL play and comes during a stretch in which FCC has collected 10 points in the last four games.
“Ten out of 12 (points) -- and considering going to New York and North Carolina and playing against a very good Bethlehem on Wednesday, getting three points tonight -- is a fantastic stretch," Koch said. "Obviously the disappointment of losing on penalty kicks but the performance against Minnesota of MLS was first class, too.
“The last two weeks have been very impressive. We’re not going to get too carried away obviously, but the table doesn’t lie.”
3. Still room to improve: FCC had never been in first place until this season, and the club has looked good getting there, but as impressive as the Orange and Blue have been, they still need to flex their muscles against the other top teams in the league.
Cincinnati is now 3-2-2 at home, but all three of the wins (all four-goal games for FCC) have come against the bottom of the table. Richmond is in 14th place. One of the draws was against third-place Pittsburgh Riverhounds and the other against ninth-place Bethlehem, which started six players with MLS contracts. The two losses were against second-place Louisville City.
FCC plays eight of its next 10 games at home, including four against top 8 teams.
PLAYER PERFORMANCES OF NOTE
Justin Hoyte: Hoyte recorded his first career assists with FCC on Saturday and also helped the defense preserve the shutout from the right back position. He had two chances created and 86.8 percent passing accuracy. The former Arsenal player had two goals last year but no assists and said he’s felt comfortable working into the attack this season with several talented players surrounding him.
Emmanuel Ledesma: Ledesma didn’t just score goals Saturday. He also led the team with seven tackles and had an 85.7 percent passing accuracy. Ledesma nearly set up two other goals in stoppage time the second half, one while servicing a free kick to Emery Welshman and the other an open look that he tried dishing off to Welshman at the last second but had deflected. “I’m not a superstar. For me, the star is in the sky,” Ledesma said. “For me, it’s teamwork. A lot of teamwork. And then a little bit of lucky. And then try. Somebody tell to me if you don’t try, you don’t know.”
